Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Analysts focus on the effect of recent elections on the politic landscape of Belarus and whether the European Union can do anything to improve the situation in Belarus.

The EU and Belarus: Perpetual Tango All Over Again? Giselle Bosse, European Policy Centre, analyses EU- ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

As early voting continues police targets both opposition groups which actively take part in elections and those who call to boycott the elections. A number of opposition parties withdraw their candidates and urge not to participate in elections.

Opposition groups call not to ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Thanks to teddy bears, Belarus has the honour of making it into the infamous British tabloid press this month. The UK’s ubiquitous Daily Mail provides sensationalist coverage of the teddy bear episode and fall-out, and includes a thorough description of the Belarusian police ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

July did not start very happily for Alexander Lukashenka. At the Independence Day speech on 4 July he praised the great political and economic situation of Belarus, but subsequent developments undermined both.

The teddy bear affair and rejection of his visa application to ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Does the European Union Need Belarus? journalist Nikolai Slutski examines whether the European Union could consider Belarus as an equal or an associate member of the European community, should Belarus decide to choose a pro-Western foreign policy vector. The journalist comes ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Fines for unsanctioned polls. The House of Representatives approved in the first reading a bill of amendments, which would establish administrative liability for non-licensed public opinion surveys. The fine would in particular be established for “illegal” polls asking people ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Belarus Digest continues to interview former ambassadors to Belarus on their work in Belarus.  Brian Bennett served as the ambassador to of the United Kingdom in 2003-2007. He recently published a book on the country "The Last Dictatorship in Europe: Belarus Under Lukashenko". 
( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka highlighted the need to modernise  Belarusian economy in his annual speech for the national Parliament on 8 May. These words coincide with an goal of a new EU project "Dialogue on Modernization for Belarus". But the two sides see the ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

Belarusians become less interested in the pro-European vector of development as the influence of Russia in the country is growing. Belarusian analysts hope that Stefen Fulle's "European Dialogue on Modernisation with Belarus" will be filled with concrete meaning soon and that ( Read more... )

Originally published at Belarus Digest. Please leave any comments there.

International agency Standard&Poors in April increased Belarus' credit rating from B- (negative) to B (stable). The agency i observed the signs of financial stabilisation in Belarus economy. Although inflation is still very high, it began to slow down, the pressure on ( Read more... )